A typical electrical distribution system is made up of transmission lines that deliver electrical power to substations which in turn provide the power to various feeder or power distribution lines. These power lines can be above ground, such as supported by power poles and the like, or underground. Transformers are used to step down the voltage for delivery to residences and other customers at appropriate voltage levels. It is conventional for reclosers to be provided at various points along power distribution lines. A recloser or switch operates to remove the line from the distribution system when a fault occurs downstream from the recloser. Conventional reclosers can open and close in response to a momentary fault and reopen again if the fault remains on the line. Opening and closing of the reclosers can happen a number of times before the recloser remains in an open circuit position. Reclosers are also known that count their open and closing cycles.
Historically power companies have relied on customers calling in to a utility to report a power outage. A repair crew would then be sent by a dispatcher to the location indicated by the caller. When at the location, the crew would look for a cause of the outage, such as a tree falling over and taking out power lines. It can be difficult to determine where an outage has occurred from call-in information as the outage may be in the customer's private service line or elsewhere upstream in the distribution network.
It is often more difficult to locate the source of momentary outages, particularly momentary outages that are intermittent. In fact, intermittent momentary outages that do not cause the recloser to remain open are often never reported to a power company. Furthermore, power companies in the past typically had no way to know when rural customers were experiencing excessive momentary outages unless and until complaints from such customers started to accumulate. When that happened, a utility worker would typically drive out, read the counters on the various reclosers in the area of the customers (the counters indicating how many times the reclosers had opened and closed). The existing new count on the reclosers would then be compared to a previous count, that may have been months earlier. The differences would be tallied and reclosers with the most reclose operations were then considered to be the zone in the distribution network causing the problem. Sometimes the correct area was identified; sometimes it wasn't.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved apparatus and system, as well as associated methods, for identifying power outages, including momentary outages that may be happening intermittently. A need also exists for a power distribution system in which the location of outages are more easily located.